Hill Farmstead Brewery: Abner clone

Hill Farmstead Brewery: Abner clone

(5.5 gallons/21 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.075 FG = 1.014
IBU = 100+ SRM = 6 ABV = 8.5%

Part of Hill Farmstead’s “Ancesteral Series,” Abner was named for Brewmaster Shaun Hill’s great-grandfather, who once owned the land where the brewery now stands. Described as “aromatic and flowery, bursting with notes of citrus and pine,” Abner is just one of the reasons why so many beer lovers make the pilgrimage to Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom to visit the brewery each year.

INGREDIENTS
15 lb. (6.8 kg) 2-row pale malt
0.75 lbs. (0.34 kg) caramalt (12°L)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) dextrose (10 mins.)
15.5 AAU Warrior hops (60 mins.) (1.0 oz./28 g at 15.5% alpha acids)
10.5 AAU Columbus hops (30 mins.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 14% alpha acids)
13 AAU Simcoe hops (0 mins.) (1.0 oz./28 g at 13% alpha acids)
10 AAU Centennial hops (0 mins.) (1.0 oz./28 g at 10% alpha acids)
6.5 AAU Chinook hops (0 mins.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 13% alpha acids)
7 AAU Columbus hops (0 mins.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 14% alpha acids)
3 oz. (84 g) Centennial hops (dry hop)
2 oz. (56 g) Simcoe hops (dry hop)
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale), White Labs WLP013 (London Ale), or Lallemand Nottingham yeast [~2 L starter])
1 tbsp. polyclar
2/3 cup (130 g) dextrose (if priming)

STEP BY STEP
Mash the grains at 149°F (65°C) for 45 minutes. Mash out, vorlauf, and then sparge at 170°F (77°C) to collect about 7 gallons (27 L) of wort (the goal is to get 5.5 gallons (21 L) into your fermenter). Boil for 75 minutes, adding the hops as instructed. After the boil is complete, begin a whirlpool in the kettle and let the knockout hops rest in the hot wort for at least 30 minutes before chilling. Pitch the yeast and ferment at 68°F (20°C) until the final gravity is reached, about 1 week. Add a fining agent to clear yeast from beer. Add the dry hops and let the beer sit on the dry hops for an additional 7 to 10 days. Bottle or keg as usual.

EXTRACT WITH GRAINS OPTION:
Substitute 9.9 pounds (4.5 kg) light liquid malt extract and 0.5 pounds (0.23 kg) extra light dried malt extract for the 2-row pale malt. Steep the crushed caramalt in 2 quarts (1.9 L) water at 155°F (68°C) for 20 minutes. Top off kettle to 7 gallons (27 L). Off the heat, add the liquid and dried malt extract and bring to a boil. Boil for 75 minutes, adding the hops and corn sugar as instructed in the ingredients list. Follow the remaining portion of the all-grain recipe.

Tips for Success:
Although the standard batch size for Brew Your Own recipes is 5 gallons (19 L), the goal with this recipe is to get at least 5.5 gallons (21 L) into your fermenter to compensate for the loss of wort that will occur during dry hopping. Make sure your primary fermenter has enough headspace to accommodate that much wort plus a large kräusen. Brewing with whole-flower or fresh hops (if you choose to use them for this recipe) can leave a lot of hop material behind, which in addition to reducing your final volume as mentioned earlier, can also clog up your equipment. Add your boil hops using a muslin brewing bag or a “hop spider” to make things easier.

The mouthfeel of this beer is incredible, which may mean that chlorides are one key to Shaun Hill’s success at Hill Farmstead Brewery (one key of many). To try and duplicate this in your homebrewery, start off with soft water and make sure the chloride level in your brewing water is at least 50 ppm to help boost the mouthfeel. Try experimenting with different chloride levels in test batches until you get the one you like. Also, don’t forget sulfate levels. A good starting point is 100 ppm with the addition of gypsum salt. To tweak your brewing water, download Brew Your Own’s brewing water spreadsheet, written by Vermont Pub & Brewery’s Greg Noonan: https://byo.com/resources/brewwater. No matter what type of brewer you are, carbon filtering your water or treating it overnight with Campden tablets is recommended, especially if your water comes from a town or city source that is chlorinated (as opposed to well or spring water). Adding one Campden tablet in 20 gallons (76 L) of water (left overnight) will rid your water of chlorine compounds that can lead to off-flavors in your beer.
Another huge factor in Abner, as with all pale, hoppy beers, is minimizing oxygen uptake after fermentation. When transferring your finished beer, make sure you are either flushing the receiving vessel with CO2 or using a closed transfer system. This is because hop compounds are especially sensitive to oxidation and their flavors diminish quickly when exposed to oxygen.